746 
S79s 


State  Street  Trust  Company, 
Boston 

Some  Ships  of  the 
Clipper  Ship  Era 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


i 


GIFT  OF 


COMMODORE  BYRON  MCCANDLESS 


SOME^SHIPS^OFm'- 
CLfPPER^SHIPERA 


'''■''''■''^^^'^i^^im!Si^m^imixi»m4simi^^f*mssmmi 


fz.-^ 


SOME   SHIPS  OF    THE 
CLIPPER    SHIP   ERA 

Their    Builders ^    Owners,  and  Captains 

A  GLANCE  AT  AN  INTERESTING 

PHASE    OF    THE     AMERICAN 

MERCHANT   MARINE   SO   FAR 

AS  IT  RELATES  TO  BOSTON 


PRINTED  FOR  THE 

STATE   STREET   THTST   COMPAXV 
BOSTON,  MASS. 


COPYRIGHTED 
19  13  BY  THE 
S  TATE  STREET 
TRUST  COMPANY 


COMPILED,  ARRANGED 
AND  PRINTED  UNDER 
THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE 
WALTON  ADVERTISING 
AND  PRINTING  CO\MPANY 
BOSTON,    MASS. 


HE 

S79s 


FOREWORD 


THE  STATE  STREET  TRUST  COMPANY  takes  pleasure 
in  presenting  to  you  the  seventh  of  the  historical  brochures 
that  it  has  issued  annually  during  the  past  six  years. 

It  hopes  that  this  will  be  of  interest,  as  the  pamphlet  pre- 
sents a  phase  of  Boston's  past,  during  which  the  foundation 
of  New  England's  mercantile  supremacy  was  being  laid  by  the 
captains  and  merchants  of  this  important  era.  In  fact,  the  be- 
ginning of  Boston's  prosperity  goes  back  to  the  days  of  its  mer- 
chant traders,  whose  ships  made  the  American  flag  so  well  known 
in  Asiatic,  Australian,  and  Californian  ports. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  give  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the 
clipper  ships  which  during  their  history  have  had  some  connec- 
tion with  Boston  either  through  their  captains,  their  builders,  or 
their  owners.  The  pamphlet  does  not  purpose  to  be  more  than 
an  outline  presentation  of  the  subject  that  has  been  so  fully  covered 
by  Captain  Arthur  H.  Clark  in  his  book  on  Clipper  Ships  and  by 
others. 

The  Company  desires  to  acknowledge  its  indebtedness  to  Dr. 
O,  T.  Howe,  whose  exhaustive  study  of  the  clipper  ship  era  was 
placed  freely  at  its  disposal,  as  well  as  to  the  "Clipper  Ship  Era" 
by  Captain  Arthur  H.  Clark.  Thanks  are  also  due  for  their 
assistance  in  the  preparation  of  this  book  or  for  permission  to 
photograph  paintings  or  prints  in  their  possession  to  Charles  H. 
Taylor,  Jr.,  the  heirs  of  William  F.  Weld  and  William  G.  Weld, 
Louis  Bacon,  C.  M.  Baker,  C.  H.  Millett,  B.  B.  Crowninshield, 
Captain  Horace  N.  Berry,  Senior  Port  Warden  of  Boston,  Frank 
Cousins,  Richard  Martin,  A.  W.  Longfellow,  Portsmouth  Athe- 
naeum, Portsmouth,  N.H.,  George  H.  Allen,  Captain  Sylvanus 
Nickerson,  Lawrence  W.  Jenkins,  of  the  Peabody  Museum,  and  to 
the  Bostonian  Society. 


102ri97Q 


SOME    SHIPS    OF   THE    CLIPPER    SHIP    ERA: 
THEIR  CAPTAINS,  OWNERS,  AND  BUILDERS 


THE  clipper  ships  have  passed  from  the  seas,  and  with 
them  has  gone  the  golden  age  of  the  American  mer- 
chant marine.  All  that  is  left  of  the  long,  swift-sailing 
clippers,  with  their  rakish  masts,  yacht-like  lines,  and  clouds  of 
canvas,  lies  either  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  on  reefs  of  far- 
away islands,  on  granite  ledges  off  Cape  Horn,  or  may  be  found 
serving  ignominiously  their  last  days  as  coal  barges  or  landing 
stages  for  passengers  from  other  ships.  Many  were  ruthlessly 
destroyed  by  the  "Alabama"  and  other  privateers  during  the 
Civil  War. 

Most  of  their  masters  and  owners,  too,  have  gone.  The  few 
captains  who  survive  are  either  living  in  weather-beaten,  lichen- 
covered,  gray  farm-houses  of  their  native  Cape  Cod  towns  on 
the  savings  of  their  strenuous  sea-faring  days  or  earning,  in  towns 
not  far  from  the  sea  they  loved  so  well,  a  meagre  livelihood  as 
port  wardens  or  minor  custom-house  officers.  Descendants  of 
some  of  the  owners  are  now  the  heads  of  well-known  New  Eng- 
land or  New  York  families,  the  foundation  of  whose  prosperity 
was  laid  by  the  consummate  seamanship,  intrepid  daring,  tireless 
energy,  shrewd  Yankee  bargaining,  and  sterling  integrity  of  the 
clipper  ship  captains.  The  clipper  era  was  at  its  height  from 
1848  to  1860,  and  this  period,  too,  saw  the  most  flourishing  years 
of  the  American  merchant  marine. 

The  very  name  "clipper  ship"  conveys  an  idea  of  speed, — 
the  main  purpose  of  their  builders, — and  was  derived  from  the 
word  "clip."  Dryden,  speaking  of  the  falcon,  says,  "Straight 
flies  at  check  and  clips  it  down  the  wind."  And  as  "to  clip" 
meant  to  run  or  fly  fast,  so  the  word  "clipper"  soon  came  to 
describe  the  fast-sailing  cargo  carriers  with  sharp  concave  bows 


6  SOME  SHIPS  OF  THE  CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 

and  long  tapering  sterns.  Originally  built  to  meet  the  demand 
for  fast  voyages  in  the  tea  trade,  the  construction  of  these  vessels 
received  a  great  impetus  from  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California, 
when  all  the  supplies  were  shipped  from  the  East,  and  the  price 
that  cargoes  brought  was  governed  by  the  speed  with  which 
they  were  delivered  in  San  Francisco.  So  great  grew  the  demand 
for  clippers  that  the  ship-building  geniuses  of  Boston,  New  York, 
and  Portsmouth  were  soon  sending  from  their  ways  ship  after 
ship,  each  one  of  which  was  intended  to  be  faster  than  its  prede- 
cessor, and  it  was  not  long  before  the  flags  of  Boston,  New  York, 
and  Baltimore  merchants  flew  from  the  maintrucks  of  ships  that 
had  no  peers  in  beauty  or  speed,  and  were  the  envy  of  merchants 
the  world  over.  Some  of  the  clippers  were  so  swift  that  they 
even  announced  in  Boston  their  own  arrival  in  Canton,  and  many 
made  the  voyage  from  New  York  or  Boston  to  San  Francisco 
at  almost  steamship  speed,  making  the  trip  under  100  days,  while 
the  ordinary  ship  took  from  200  to  300  days  for  the  voyage. 

The  "Lightning,"  commanded  by  James  Nicol  Forbes,  during 
a  voyage  from  Boston  to  Liverpool  made  436  nautical,  or  502.64 
statute,  miles  in  24  hours, — a  speed  faster  than  that  of  any 
ocean  steamship  of  her  day,  and  faster  than  any  vessel,  up  to 
that  time,  had  been  moved  by  sail.  She  made  the  whole  voyage 
in  13  days,  193^-2  hours.  Her  24-hour  speed  was  not  equalled  by 
steamer  until  the  advent  of  the  "Oregon"  in  the  80 's.  Her  24- 
hour  run  was  at  an  average  rate  of  almost  eighteen  knots.  The 
"James  Baines"  made  the  passage  from  Boston  to  Liverpool 
in  the  fall  of  1854  in  12  days  and  6  hours,  the  quickest  voyage 
on  record;  and  she  made  the  voyage  from  Liverpool  to  Mel- 
bourne in  63  days  and  home  in  69,  thus  going  around  the 
world  in  the  record  time  of  132  days.  The  "Red  Jacket" 
went  from  New  York  to  Liverpool  in  1854,  under  Captain 
Eldridge,  in  13  days,  1  hour,  and  25  minutes;  while  the  famous 
Red  Cross  Line  packet  ship  "Dreadnought,"  commanded  by 
Captain  Samuels,  made  a  passage  from  New  York  to  Liverpool 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA  7 

in  13  days,  8  hours,  and  the  voyage  from  Sandy  Hook  to  oflf 
Queenstown  in  9  days  and  17  hours.  Both  the  "Flying  Cloud" 
and  the  "Andrew  Jackson"  went  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco 
in  89  days;  while  the  "Sea  Witch"  went  from  Canton  to  New 
York  in  74  days,  14  hours. 

To  find  the  beginning  of  the  clipper  ships,  one  must  turn  to 
the  War  of  1812,  when  certain  swift  privateers,  modelled  after 
the  French  "lugger,"  were  built  in  Baltimore,  and  took  the  name 
"Baltimore  clippers."  The  building  of  the  opium  clippers,  from 
1832  to  1851,  for  Robert  Bennett  Forbes  and  John  Murray 
Forbes  and  Russell  &  Co.,  to  control  the  opium  trade  between 
India  and  Canton,  was  another  step  toward  ships  modelled 
like  clippers.  One  of  these,  the  "Antelope,"  was  so  swift 
and  such  a  good  sailer  that,  under  Captain  Philip  Dumaresq, 
she  was  said  to  be  the  only  square-rigged  vessel  that  could  beat  up 
the  Formosa  Channel  against  the  north-east  monsoon.  English 
competition  led  in  1851  to  the  building  of  the  famous  clipper 
schooners  "Minna"  and  "Brenda" — 300  tons  each,  with  yacht- 
like lines  and  clouds  of  canvas — that  were  very  swift  and  carried 
large  crews,  and  were  well  armed  to  meet  the  Chinese  pirates, 
whose  vessels  swarmed  the  China  seas.  These  two  schooners  were 
built  for  John  M.  Forbes  and  others  by  George  Raynes,  of  Ports- 
mouth, and  earned  large  sums  before  steamers  drove  them  from 
the  seas. 

Few  of  these  early  clippers  were  over  200  tons.  The  "Ann 
McKim,"  of  493  tons  burden  and  143  feet  long,  built  in  1832 
at  Baltimore,  represented  the  first  effort  to  reproduce  the  large 
clipper-like  lines  of  the  small  vessels  in  the  lines  of  larger  ones. 
She  was  beautifully  fitted,  and,  as  she  was  engaged  in  the  China 
trade,  carried  guns  for  protection  against  pirates.  Eventually, 
she  fell  into  the  hands  of  Howland  &  Aspinwall,  ship-owners  of 
New  York,  and  led  them  in  1843  to  embody  in  the  "Rainbow," 
the  first  real  clipper  ship  ever  built,  the  design  of  a  clipper  which 
John  W.  Griffiths  had  suggested  in  a  model  he  had  shown  at  the 


8 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 


American  Institute  in  1841.  The  "Rainbow,"  which  was  of 
750  tons,  was  built  by  Smith  &  Dimon,  and  under  the  cap- 
taincy of  John  Land  proved  very  fast.  So  enthusiastic  was  Land 
that  he  dechired  she  was  the  fastest  boat  in  the  world,  and  boast- 
ingly  said  that  no  boat  could  be  built  to  beat  her.  Her  success 
set  the  builders  of  New  York,  Boston,  and  Portsmouth  to  turning 
out  clipper  ships,  and  the  discovery  of  gold  in   California  and. 


CANTON  PACKET 


later,  in  Australia  greatly  accelerated  clipper  ship  construc- 
tion. The  greatest  number  were  built  between  1850  and  1855. 
The  out})reak  of  the  Civil  War,  with  its  privateers  and  the  compe- 
tition of  steam,  drove  the  clij)per  ships  from  the  sea,  and  with 
their  disappearance  began  the  decadence  of  the  American  mer- 
chant marine.  Such  in  outline  is  the  story  of  the  clip])er  ship 
era.  Let  us  glance  more  closely  at  some  of  the  famous  ships 
which  were  either  built  in  Boston  or  were  owned  or  sailed  by 
Boston  men.     The  "Canton  Packet"  was  the  type  of  fast-sailing 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP   ERA  9 

merchant  ship  which  preceded  the  true  clipper  ship,  and  was  a 
bark  built  for  J.  &  T.  H.  Perkins  and  others. 

Robert  Bennett  Forbes,  who  was  employed  as  office-boy  in 
the  firm  of  J.  &  T.  H.  Perkins,  spent  his  spare  time  visiting 
their  ships  while  they  were  unloading  at  Central  Wharf,  which 
was  near  the  office  on  Foster's  Wliarf,  and  sometimes  his  uncle, 
T.  H.  Perkins,  would  remark,  when  Bob  was  taking  dinner  with 
him  and  being  served  with  the  pudding,  "You  won't  get  any 
so  good  off  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope."  Forbes  thus  early  became 
familiar  with  the  idea  that  he  "was  born  to  eat  bad  puddings 
off  the  Cape." 

At  the  age  of  thirteen  Forbes  went  as  a  cabin-boy  on  the 
"Canton  Packet,"  under  Captain  John  King,  and  he  was  on  her 
altogether  six  years,  becoming  an  officer  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
and  captain  of  the  "Levant"  before  he  was  twenty. 

The  original  partners  in  Russell  &  Co.,  one  of  the  best-known 
American  firms  then  doing  business  at  Canton,  China,  were 
Samuel  Russell  and  Philip  Amraidon.  William  H.  Low,  Augustine 
Heard,  John  M.  Forbes,  John  C.  Green,  Warren  Delano,  W.  C. 
Hunter,  Joseph  Coolidge,  Russell  Sturgis,  Richard  Starr  Dana, 
W.  H.  Forbes,  R.  B.  Forbes,  Paul  S.  Forbes,  J.  Murray  Forbes, 
and  Edward  King  were,  at  one  time  or  other,  partners  in  this  firm. 
The  firm  was  founded  in  1818  by  Samuel  Russell,  of  Middletown, 
Conn.,  and  was  first  known  as  Samuel  Russell  &  Co.  In  1824 
the  firm  became  Russell  &  Co.,  and  had  a  career  rarely  equalled 
in  the  Chinese  trade.  John  Perkins  Gushing,  who  had  been 
a  representative  of  J.  &  T.  H.  Perkins  in  China,  was  one  of 
those  who  had  much  to  do  with  the  starting  of  the  firm,  as 
he  transferred  to  Russell  &  Co.  a  portion  of  the  commission 
business  which  had  grown  too  large  for  Perkins  &  Co.  to 
handle. 

The  cause  of  the  Opium  War,  which  interrupted  trade  for 
a  time,  was  a  peculiarly  flagrant  piece  of  smuggling,  which  so 
aroused  the  Chinese  government  that  its  commissioner  appeared 


10        SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 

at  the  foreign  settlement,  demanded  the  opium,  and  dumped  it 
into  the  ditches.  The  trouble  was  finally  adjusted  by  England 
compelling  China  to  pay  an  indemnity,  and  trade  was  resumed. 
The  opium  had  been  brought  for  some  time  from  India  in  the 
swift-sailing  vessels,  or  "clippers,"  we  have  already  described, 
and  was  smuggled  into  Canton  by  various  means.  As  all  for- 
eigners lived  in  a  narrow  suburb  on   the  river  and  were  never 


BRENDA 

allowed  within  the  city,  business  was  transacted  with  Chinese 
middlemen,  one  of  whom,  Houqua,  was  ever  the  warm  friend  of 
Russell  &  Co. 

The  "Brenda,"  a  sister-ship  to  the  "Minna,"  was  one  of  the 
last  of  the  opium  clippers,  and,  like  all  of  these  ships,  was  beauti- 
fully modelled,  carried  clouds  of  canvas,  and  was  very  fast.  As 
the  Chinese  pirates  were  numerous,  she  went  heavily  armed  and 
had  a  large  crew.  She  was  built  in  1852  at  Portsmouth,  and  was 
sent  to  China  for  Russell  &  Co. 


12        SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 


Another  clipper  in  the  China  trade  was  the  brig  "Antelope," 
of  370  tons,  built  in  1843  at  East  Boston  by  Samuel  Hall,  for  Rus- 
sell &  Co.  The  "Antelope"  and  her  captain  were  very  popular, 
and  no  vessel  could  be  unloaded  or  refitted  in  port  until  the  "An- 
telope" was  cared  for.  She,  and  the  "Brenda,"  "Zephyr,"  "Ma- 
zeppa,"  "Ariel,"  and  others,  were  Russell  &  Co.'s  fastest  opium 
clippers,  and   soon  enabled  the  company   almost  to  control   the 


ANTKLOPK 


opium  trade  with  China.  With  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California 
began  the  construction  of  larger,  wider,  deeper,  and  faster  ships,  of 
heavier  tonnage,  and  1850  witnessed  the  launching  of  some  of  the 
most  famous  of  the  clipper  ships.  One  of  the  earliest  was  the 
"John  Bertram,"  a  very  sharp  ship,  which  was  built  by  R.  E. 
Jackson  at  East  Boston  for  Glidden  &  Williams  of  Boston.  An 
eagle  on  the  wing  was  her  figure-head,  and  a  medallion  bust  of 
John  Bertram,  of  Salem,  adorned  the  stern.  She  was  commanded 
by  Captain  Landholm,  and  in  1852  went  to  San  Francisco  from 


Length,  isei' 


R.  B.   FOR  HI': 


Tonnage,  756 


Length,  198' 


GAME  COCK 


Tonnage,  i.i'iO 


14        SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 

Boston  in  105  days,  actual  sailing  time,  and  returned  in  90  days, 
beating  the  "Northern  Light"  by  8  days.  In  1869  she  went 
under  the  German  flag. 

The  "R.  B.  Forbes"  left  Boston  September  26,  1851,  the  year 
she  was  built,  crossed  the  line  in  30  days,  rounded  Cape  Horn 
in  60  days,  and  reached  Honolulu  in  the  then  record  time  of 
99  days  from  Boston.  She  was  a  close  copy  of  the  "Game 
Cock,"  and  was  built  by  Samuel  Hall  for  J.  T.  Coolidge,  Charles 
Brewer,  and  others.  She  was  sold  in  1863  at  Hong  Kong 
to  foreign  owners  for  $17,000,  and  was  renamed  the  "Maria 
Ria." 

The  "Game  Cock,"  owned  by  Daniel  C.  Bacon,  of  Boston, 
was  one  of  a  number  of  clipper  ships  upon  which  many  a  wager 
was  laid  in  1851  by  the  ships'  owners  who  congregated  at  the 
Astor  House,  New  York,  or  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  Boston, 
to  discuss  the  shipping  news  and  the  speed  of  the  California 
clippers.  She  was  built  in  1850  by  Samuel  Hall,  of  East 
Boston,  was  commanded  by  Captain  Hollis,  and  designed  by 
Samuel  H.  Pook,  a  well-known  naval  designer.  Her  figure-head, 
indicative  of  her  name  and  game  qualities,  was  a  rooster  with 
head  and  neck  in  the  attitude  of  combat.  Her  best  record  was 
a  passage  from  Honolulu  to  Hong  Kong  in  the  remarkable  time 
of  19  days.  In  1880  she  was  condemned  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope. 

A  famous  clipper  was  the  "  Witchcraft,"  whose  prow  was  a 
tiger  crouching  for  a  spring,  and  encircling  whose  stern  was  a 
huge  serpent.  Every  line  of  the  beautiful  craft,  which  was  built 
by  Curtis  &  Taylor,  of  Medford,  indicated  the  speed  for  which 
she  was  primarily  built.  Her  owners  were  Samuel  Rogers  and 
W.  D.  Pickman,  of  Salem,  and  her  captain,  William  C.  Rogers, 
was  the  son  of  one  of  the  owners.  Captain  Rogers  afterward 
distinguished  himself  in  the  Civil  War  by  capturing,  while  in 
command  of  the  clipper  bark  "William  G.  Anderson,"  the  Con- 
federate privateer  "Beauregard."     He    later    married    a    grand- 


Length,  193' 


W  1  It  H(.  KAH  1 


Tonnage,  1310 


Length,  215' 


STAG  HOUND 


Tonnage,  1.53,5 


16        SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 

daughter  of  Nathaniel  Bowditch.  One  of  the  "Witchcraft's" 
records  was  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  in  97  days,  actual 
sailing  time.  She  once  sailed  from  the  Chincha  Islands,  Peru, 
to  New  York  in  67  days,  under  Captain  Freeman, — a  record  at 
that  time.  On  a  voyage  from  San  Francisco  to  Hong  Kong  in 
1852  she  lost  her  main  and  mizzen  masts  in  a  squall,  and,  being 
unable  to  find  suitable  spars,  she  was  obliged  to  have  them 
made  of  teakwood  at  $1.50  a  foot,  her  repairs  costing  $28,832. 
She  once  sailed  for  the  Chincha  Islands  and  thence  to  New 
York,  making  the  round  voyage  in  8  months,  14  days, — one 
month  better  than  ever  done  before.  She  was  finally,  in  1868, 
wrecked  off  Cape  Hatteras,  under  Captain  Booth,  while  on  her 
way  from  Callao,  and  thirteen  sailors  and  five  passengers  were 
drowned. 

With  the  launching  of  the  "Stag  Hound"  from  the  ways  of 
Donald  McKay  at  East  Boston,  December  7,  1850,  the  size  of 
the  clippers  began  to  increase,  although  the  raciness  of  line  was 
still  preserved.  When  she  was  launched,  the  "Stag  Hound" 
was  the  largest  merchant  ship  yet  built,  being  215  feet  long 
and  having  a  register  of  1,535  tons.  No  less  than  15,000  people 
gathered  to  see  her  launched  despite  the  cold,  and,  as  the  tallow 
froze,  boiling  whale  oil  was  poured  upon  the  ways.  When  she 
began  to  slide,  the  foreman  of  the  yard  broke  a  bottle  of  Med- 
ford  rum  on  her  forefoot,  shouting  in  his  nervousness,  as  he  did 
so,  "'Stag  Hound,'  your  name's  'Stag  Hound,'"  instead  of  the 
usual  phraseology  used  at  a  launching. 

She  was  regarded  as  the  ideal  type  of  clipj)er  ship,  and  was  built 
for  Sampson  &  Tappan  and  George  B.  Upton,  of  Boston,  and  was 
commanded  by  Captain  Josiah  Richardson.  At  this  i)eriod 
nearly  all  of  the  clipper  ships  were  constructed  for  the  California 
trade,  in  which  freights  were  high  and  prices  depended  upon  the 
speed  with  which  goods  were  delivered  in  California.  Many 
of  the  clippers  costing  from  $70,000  to  $80,000  paid  for  them- 
selves on  their  first  voyage.     Cargo  capacity  was  often  sacri- 


18        SOME  SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 

ficed  for  speed,  and  sail  was  carried  as  long  as  possible,  so  that 
much  canvas  was  lost,  and  much  rigging,  and  often  topmasts 
carried  away  on  each  voyage.  One  sea  captain,  RolxM-t  ^Yaterman, 
was  said  to  padlock  his  gear  so  that  sailors  could  not  take  in  sail 
without  orders.  On  the  "Stag  Hound's"  first  trip  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, during  which  she  beat  to  Valparaiso  the  "John  Bertram" 
and  the  "Sea  Serpent,"  she  made  the  voyage  from  New  York 
in  107  days,  actual  sailing  time,  although  a  storm,  when  she 
was  a  few  days  out  of  New  York,  cost  her  a  maintopmast  and 
three  topgallant  masts.  She  sailed  from  Boston  Light  to  the 
equator  in  a  record  time  of  13  days;  the  best  time  ever  made 
by  a  sailing  vessel  from  New  York  to  Canton  being  77  days, 
by  the  "Sea  Witch,"  in  1848,  commanded  by  Captain  R.  H. 
Waterman.  The  "Stag  Hound"  took  fire  in  1863  near  the  coast 
of  Brazil,  was  burned  to  the  water's  edge,  and  sank.  All  that 
was  left  of  her  was  the  ensign,  which  Captain  Behm  brought 
back  to  the  owners. 

The  "Flying  Cloud,"  built  in  1851  by  Donald  McKay  for  Enoch 
Train,  and  purchased  by  Grinnell,  Minturn  &  Co.  of  New  York, 
was  one  of  the  fastest  clippers  ever  launched.  She  had  a  figure- 
head of  an  angel  on  the  wing,  with  a  speaking-trumpet  in  her 
hand.  Her  mainmast,  including  the  topmast  and  skysail  pole, 
towered  to  the  height  of  '200  feet;  her  mainyard  measured  82 
feet,  and  her  bowsprit  and  jib-boom  projected  58  feet,  while 
her  masts  raked  13^  inches  to  the  foot. 

She  sailed  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  in  1851  in  89 
days  and  21  hours,  under  Captain  Josiah  Perkins  Cressy.  In 
one  day  she  covered  433}^  statute  miles,  42  miles  faster  than 
any  steamship  had  then  done  in  the  same  time.  On  this  occasion 
some  of  the  crew  had  to  be  put  in  irons,  though  they  were  sub- 
sequently released  to  work  the  shij),  and  the  first  officer  was 
suspended  from  duty  because  he  cut  the  rigging  contrary  to 
orders.  So  driven  was  the  "Flying  Cloud"  that  for  a  number  of 
days  she  averaged  13}^  knots,  and  sailed  no  less  than  5,912  miles 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA        19 

at  an  average  of  227  miles  a  day.  She  sprung  her  mainmast, 
split  her  staysails  at  both  fore  and  maintopmasts,  and  lost  her 
fore-topgallant  mast.  Again  in  1854  the  "Flying  Cloud"  sailed 
eight  days  after  the  "Archer,"  another  fast  clipper,  and  beat 
her  into  San  Francisco  by  9  days,  and  the  "Game  Cock"  20  days, 
making  the  passage  in  89  days  and  8  hours, — a  record  that  was 
only  exceeded  in  1860  by  the  "Andrew  Jackson,"  which  made 
the  voyage  in  89  days  and  4  hours.  One  of  those  who  was 
on  the  ship  at  the  time  she  made  her  record  trip,  and  who  is 
still  living,  is  Richard  Martin,  of  Swampscott,  who  remembers 
well  the  excitement  that  attended  the  trip.  Upon  the  return 
of  Captain  Cressy  to  New  York  he  was  given  a  banquet  at  the 
Astor  House  and  presented  a  silver  service  set  by  the  New  York 
and  Boston  underwriters. 

There  was  much  rivalry  at  this  time  between  the  clipper  ships, 
and  they  were  constantly  racing.  As  they  sailed  from  San  Fran- 
cisco to  China  and  came  back  with  tea,  so  great  was  the  compe- 
tition between  the  American  and  the  English  ships  that,  when 
the  Illustrated  London  News  in  1852  stated  that  the  "Chrysolite" 
and  "Stornoway,"  two  English  clippers,  had  beaten  the  "Ori- 
ental" and  the  "Surprise,"  the  article  aroused  the  interest  of  the 
New  York  and  Boston  clipper  ship  owners,  and  the  American 
Navigation  Club  was  formed  by  Daniel  C.  Bacon,  Thomas  H» 
Perkins,  J.  P.  Cushing,  William  H.  Boardman,  John  M.  Forbes, 
Warren  Delano,  and  Edward  King.  The  club  published  a  chal- 
lenge in  Bell's  Life  of  London,  offering  to  race  an  American 
clipper  ship,  to  be  modelled,  manned,  and  officered  by  citizens  of 
the  United  States,  against  any  English  clipper,  modelled  and 
officered  by  Englishmen,  for  £10,000  a  side.  But  the  challenge 
was  never  accepted. 

The  "Flying  Cloud"  was  probably  the  fastest  -  sailing  ship 
that  went  to  San  Francisco,  if  not  the  fastest  that  sailed  any- 
where at  any  time,  for  she  made  four  passages  to  San  Francisco 
in  89,  89,  105,  and   108  days,  or  an  average  of  97%  days,  which 


20        SOME   SHIPS   OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 

was  at  least  a  day's  better  time  than  the  best  average  made  by 
the  "Andrew  Jackson."  Despite  the  great  rivalry  and  efforts  to 
make  fast  voyages,  the  ties  of  humanity  were  never  forgotten. 
"NMiile  the  "Flying  Cloud"  was  in  the  vicinity  of  Madagascar, 
running  twelve  knots,  April  2,  1856,  she  lost  a  sailor  overboard. 
Mrs.  Cressy,  who  saw  the  accident  from  her  cabin  window,  no 
one  else  seeing  it,  rushed  on  deck  and  threw  over  the  life  buoy, 
at  the  same  time  giving  an  alarm.  The  ship  was  hove  to  and  a 
boat  sent  out,  but  after  a  long  search  it  returned  without  finding 
the  sailor.  Captain  Cressy  determined  to  rescue  him,  and,  send- 
ing out  two  boats,  ordered  them  to  keep  up  the  search  until 
night.  Four  hours  later  the  man  was  picked  up,  almost  dead, 
about  two  miles  from  the  ship.  He  was  brought  to  the  ship, 
placed  in  Mrs.  Cressy's  cabin,  and  nursed  by  her  back  to  health. 
The  "Flying  Cloud"  was  finally  sold  to  James  Baines  &  Co. 
of  Liverpool,  and  eventually  was  destroyed  by  fire  at  St.  John, 
N.B.,  in  1874. 

The  "Flying  Fish"  was  another  boat  built  in  1851  by  Donald 
McKay  for  Sampson  &  Tappan,  and  was  captained  by  Edward 
Nickels,  whose  dinners  and  luncheons  on  his  ships  to  his  shore 
friends  were  quite  famous.  Her  figure-head  was  a  flying  fish, 
on  the  wing,  in  gold  and  green.  She  spread  8,250  yards  of 
canvas  with  water  sails  and  all  the  "fancy"  canvas.  In  the  fall 
of  1851  she  sailed  a  great  race  to  San  Francisco  with  the  "Sword 
Fish"  of  New  York,  the  "Flying  Fish"  sailing  from  Boston 
the  same  day  that  the  "Sword  Fish"  sailed  from  New  York.  She 
led  the  "Sword  Fish"  to  the  equator  by  4  days,  and  the  two 
raced  around  Cape  Horn  side  by  side,  but  the  "Flying  Fish"  was 
beaten  into  San  Francisco  by  8  days,  the  "Sword  Fish"  arriving 
in  90  days,  while  the  "Flying  Fish"  took  983^.  Large  sums  were 
wagered  on  the  result.  Her  best  record  to  San  Francisco  was 
92  days. 

During  a  race  with  the  "John  Gilpin"  in  1852  the  two  were 
side  by  side  off  the  Horn,  and  Captain  Nickels  invited  Captain 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA        21 

Justin  Doane,  of  the  "John  Gilpin,"  to  come  aboard  and  dine, 
which  unique  invitation  Doane  was  "reluctantly  obliged  to  de- 
cline." Although  the  "John  Gilpin"  led  into  San  Francisco, 
she  was  beaten  in  time  by  the  "Flying  Fish,"  which  made  the 
passage  in  92  days,  while  the  "Gilpin's"  time  was  93  days.  The 
"Flying  Fish"  was  wrecked  in  1858,  as  she  was  bound  out  of 
Foo-Chow  for  New  York  with  a  cargo  of  tea,  and  was  sold  by 


Length,  198'  6' 


FLYING  FISH 


Tonnage,  1505 


the  underwriters  to  a  Spanish  merchant  of  Manila,  who  rebuilt 
her,  changed  her  name  to  "El  Bueno  Suceso,"  and  sailed  her 
between  Manila  and  Cadiz,  until  she  foundered  in  the  China 
Sea. 

The  "Southern  Cross"  was  a  sister-ship  to  the  second  "Radi- 
ant," a  picture  of  which  is  shown,  and  was  in  every  respect  iden- 
tical with  her.  She  was  built  in  1851  by  Briggs  Brothers  of 
Boston  for  Baker  &  Morrill  of  Boston.  One  of  her  best  passages 
was    from    San    Francisco    to    Hong    Kong    in    32    days.      She 


22        SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 

had  a  golden  eagle  for  a  figure-head,  and  was  commanded  by 
Captain  Stevens.  On  a  voyage  from  Mexico  for  New  York  she 
was  burned  by  the  Confederate  privateer  "Florida." 

One  of  the  finest  and  certainly  one  of  the  fastest  jjacket  clippers 
which  sailed  between  America  and  Europe  prior  to  1854  was 
the  "Staffordshire,"  whose  big  "T"  on  the  fore  lower  topsail  indi- 
cated she  was  owned  by  Enoch  Train  &  Co.  of  Boston,  for  whom 
she  was  built  in  1851  by  Donald  McKay.  Her  first  captain 
was  Albert  H.  Brown.  The  sharp  and  graceful  bow  carried  a 
witch's  head,  while  her  elliptical  stern  was  ornamented  on  one 
side  with  a  carved  representation  of  a  manufacturing  scene  in 
Staffordshire,  and  on  the  other  with  a  representation  of  the 
old  building  on  Lewis  Wharf  occupied  as  an  office  by  Train  & 
Co.  She  made  the  run  in  1851  from  Boston  to  Liverpool  in 
13^  days,  or  from  wharf  to  wharf  in  14  days,  18  hours.  Sub- 
sequently she  was  rigged  for  the  California  trade,  and  under 
Captain  Josiah  Richardson,  who  had  commanded  the  "Stag 
Hound,"  sailed  from  Boston  to  San  Francisco  in  101  days,  and 
made  the  return  voyage  in  82  days.  While  sailing  from  Liverpool 
for  Boston  in  1853,  she  was  wrecked  during  a  fog  on  Blonde 
Rock,  near  Cape  Sable,  and  sank.  Captain  Richardson  had 
broken  his  back  several  days  before  by  falling  on  deck,  and  when 
his  first  mate,  Joseph  Alden,  reported  that  the  ship  was  sinking, 
directed  the  officer  to  save  the  women  and  children,  but  declined 
help  himself.  His  last  words  before  the  vessel  went  down  were, 
"God's  will  be  done."  Forty -four,  officers  and  crew,  were  saved, 
but  170,  including  Captain  Richardson,  were  drowned. 

The  "Typhoon,"  when  she  sailed  into  Liverpool  on  her  first 
voyage  in  1852,  was  the  attraction  of  the  whole  water  front,  for 
she  was  the  largest  ship  that  had  yet  been  seen  at  the  port.  .  She 
was  built  by  Fernald  &  Pettigrew  of  Portsmouth  for  D.  &  A. 
Kingsland  of  New  York,  and  hor  ca])tain,  Charles  H.  Salter, 
came  of  a  generation  of  distinguished  commanders  of  Portsmouth 
ships.     She  was  launched  fully  rigged  and  with  colors  flying,  and 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 


23 


made  a  trial  run  to  Liverpool  from  Portsmouth  in  13  days,  10 
hours,  and  her  best  day's  run  was  346  miles.  One  of  the  great 
races  of  the  clipper  ship  era  was  in  1851,  between  the  "Typhoon," 
under  Captain  Salter,  the  "Raven,"  under  Captain  Henry,  and 
the  "Sea  Witch,"  under  Captain  Frazer,  all  of  which  sailed  for 
San  Francisco  together.  The  "Sea  Witch"  and  the  "Raven" 
were  almost  side  by  side  for  about  two  weeks  in  the  thrash  to 
windward   around   Cape   Horn;    while   the   "Typhoon"   pressed 


Lciifrtli.  223' 


TYPHOON 


Tonnage,  1610 


the  two  leaders  closely,  and  finally  led  both  into  the  Golden 
Gate,  although  the  "Raven"  actually  won,  her  time  being  105 
days  from  Boston  Light,  while  the  "Typhoon"  was  106  days 
from  Sandy  Hook,  and  the  "Sea  Witch"  was  110  days.  The 
"Typhoon"  was  sold  in  1864  at  Singapore  for  $39,000  to  sail 
under  English  colors. 

The  launching  in  1851  of  the  "Witch  of  the  Wave"  at  Ports- 
mouth, where  she  was  built  by  George  Raynes  for  Captain  John 
Bertram  and  Alfred   Peabody  of   Salem,  was  made  an  occasion 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA        25 


of   much   festivity.     A   large   party   accompanied   her   to   Salem 
Harbor,  and  a  poem  was  read,  one  stanza  of  which  ran: — 

"They  say  a  man  came  down  to-day 
To  carry  the  Witch  of  the  Wave  away. 
And  the  people  think  he  oughtn't  oughter 
Just  because  he's  been  and  bought  her." 

She  subsequently  came  into  the  possession  of  Glidden  &  Will- 
iams.    At  first  she  was  captained  by  Matthew  Hunt,  and  later 


Lengtli,  ■220' 


WITCH   OF  THE  WAVE 


Tonnage,  U98 


by  Captain  Joseph  H.  Millet,  of  Salem.  The  London  Times  of 
April  16,  1852,  printed  a  very  laudatory  article,  in  which  it  was 
said  that  the  "Witch  of  the  Wave"  brought  one  of  the  most 
"valuable  cargoes  of  tea  that  had  ever  entered  England,"  and 
that  "she  was  built  at  Salem  near  the  Port  of  New  York."  In 
1853  she  beat  the  "Raven,"  the  "Comet,"  and  the  "Trade 
Wind"  in  a  run  to  San  Francisco.     On  her  trip  home  she  went 


26 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 


from  Calcutta  to  Boston  in  81  days,  which  was  then  a  record. 
She  was  sold  in  1856  at  Amsterdam. 

The  "Radiant"  in  ISo^  came  off  the  ways  of  Paul  Curtis  at 
East  Boston,  and  the  "John  Land"  was  built  in  1853  by  Briggs 
Brothers  of  South  Boston.  Both  ships  were  owned  by  Baker 
&  Morrill.  The  "Radiant"  was  wrecked  in  1871  on  Crocodile 
Reef,  while  on  a  voyage  from  Singapore  to  Boston,  and  was  lost. 
The  "John  Land"  in  1864  foundered  at  sea,  all  hands  being  saved. 


"KADIAXT"    AND   "JOHN    LAND' 


One  of  the  largest  of  the  clipper  ships  was  the  "Sovereign  of 
the  Seas,"  which  was  owned  by  Funk  &  Meinke  of  New  York. 
She  was  built  in  1852  by  Donald  McKay,  and  commanded  by  his 
brother,  Lauchlan  McKay.  She  carried  a  Ctew  of  125  men  and 
boys.  She  made  her  first  trip  to  San  Francisco  in  103  days, 
crossing  the  equator  in  25  days.  During  her  voyage  she  carried 
away  several  of  her  sails  and  topmasts,  which  (^iptain  McKay 
repaired  at  sea.  The  New  York  Board  of  Underwriters  presented 
him  with  a  handsome  solid  silver  dinner  service  for  rerigging  his 


28 


SOME   SHIPS   OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 


ship  at  sea.  She  carried  a  cargo  weighing  2,950  tons,  a  portion 
of  which  was  flour  that  sold  for  $44  a  barrel;  while  her  total 
freight  was  valued  at  $84,000.  Thousands  of  people  were  about 
the  wharf  to  greet  her,  and,  when  she  arrived,  the  sailors  sang, — 

"O  Susannah  darling,  take  your  ease, 
For  we  have  beat  the  clipper  fleet, 
The  Sovereign  of  the  Seas." 


Leiifftli,  '-'")«' 


so\'i:Ki;i(iN  OF 


Tonnage,  2li\ 


According  to  Lieutenant  Maury,  the  best  authority,  she  sailed, 
from  March  9th  to  the  31st  433  statute  miles  a  day.  She  went 
emj)ty  to  Honolulu,  and  loaded  with  sperm  oil  for  New  York, 
making  some  remarkable  runs  on  the  voyage.  One  day  she  ran 
424  miles,  and  sailed  during  a  portion  of  the  24  hours  at  a  rate 
which  must  have  been  almost  twenty  knots  an  hour.  She  made 
the  passage  in  80  days.  She  then  sailed  to  Liverpool  in  13  days 
and  22  hours,  outsailing  in  5  days  the  Cunard  steamer  "Canada" 
by  325  miles.     In  1858  she  was  sold  in  London  for  $40,000,  and 


SOME  SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 


29 


eventually  she  ran  on  Pyramid  Shoal  in  the  Straits  of  Malacca 
and  was  lost. 

The  reproduction  of  the  "Westward  Ho"  shows  the  clouds  of 
canvas  which  the  clipper  ships  carried.  She,  too,  was  built  by 
Donald  McKay,  and  was  one  of  33  clippers  launched  in  1852, 
and  was  owned  by  Sampson  &  Tappan  and  commanded  by 
Captain  Hussey.     She  was  finally  burned  at  Callao. 


WESTWARD  HO 


The  "Fearless"  was  designed  by  Samuel  A.  Pook,  the  "archi- 
tect" who  had  drawn  the  lines  of  the  "Game  Cock,"  "Herald 
of  the  Morning,"  and  other  famous  clippers,  and  was  built  in 
1853  by  A.  &  G.  T.  Sampson  of  East  Boston  for  W.  F.  Weld  & 
Co. 

The  largest  of  all  the  clipper  ships  was  the  "Great  Republic," 
which  was  built  by  Donald  McKay,  her  first  owner,  and  later 
was  bought  by  A.  A.  Low  &  Brother  of  New  York.  She  was 
325  feet  long,  53  feet  beam,  38  feet  deep,  and  of  4,555  tons  burden. 


FEARLESS 


Length,  325' 


GREAT  REPUBLIC 


'I'OIlIlMKe.  i.5;).i 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA        31 

She  had  4  decks,  4  masts  when  launched,  and  her  figure-head 
was  an  eagle.  On  her  stern  holding  a  shield  in  his  talons  was 
another  eagle,  whose  outstretched  wings  were  36  feet  from  tip 
to  tip.  Her  long  sharp  ends  and  concave  lines  forward  and 
aft  gave  her  a  very  racy  look  despite  her  size.  She  had  the 
Forbes  rig  of  double  topsails  and  Harris  system  of  lightning 
conductors,  and  was  intended  to  carry  a  crew  of  100  men  and 
30  boys.  At  the  time  of  her  launching  wire  rope  was  unknown, 
so  that  all  her  standing  rigging  was  hemp,  her  main  rigging  being 
123^  inches  and  her  top  rigging  8  inches  in  circumference.  She 
carried  15,653  yards  of  sail,  required  1,500,000  feet  of  hard  pine, 
986,000  feet  of  white  oak,  336  tons  of  iron  bolts,  and  56  tons  of 
copper,  besides  sheathing. 

It  is  said  that  30,000  people  crowded  the  wharves  at  the  North 
End  of  Boston,  the  Charlestown  Navy  Yard,  and  Chelsea  Bridge, 
and  an  equal  number  crowded  the  immediate  neighborhood  of 
her  yard,  October  4,  1853,  to  witness  her  launching.  In  def- 
erence to  the  temperance  sentiment  then  prevalent  she  was 
christened  with  a  bottle  of  Cochituate  water.  Her  foremast  was 
130  feet,  her  main  131,  her  mizzen  122,  and  her  jigger  110  feet. 
She  was  commanded  by  Captain  Lauchlan  McKay,  and  went 
to  New  York  to  take  on  a  load  of  provisions,  valued  at  $250,000, 
for  Europe.  A  great  conflagration  in  New  York,  December 
26,  1853,  set  fire  to  her,  and,  although  she  was  sunk,  the  water 
was  too  shallow  to  save  her,  and  she  was  burned  to  the  water's 
edge.  Her  owner,  Donald  McKay,  gave  her  up  to  the  under- 
writers, and  received  about  $220,000  insurance.  She  was  dry 
docked  and  rebuilt  under  the  direction  of  Captain  N.  B.  Palmer. 
She  was  cut  down  to  3  decks,  36  feet  taken  off  her  mainyard, 
and  her  other  masts  and  her  yards  materially  shortened, 
and  she  was  lighter  sparred  and  canvased.  Her  tonnage  was 
reduced  to  3,357,  which  still  left  her  the  largest  merchant  ship  of 
her  day.  On  her  first  voyage  to  Liverpool  she  was  commanded 
by  a  Captain  Limeburner  and  manned  by  a  crew  of  50  men,  less 


32        SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 

than  half  the  crew  she  would  have  required  under  her  old  rig. 
The  passage,  a  rough  one,  took  19  days.  As  she  drew  25  feet  of 
water  and  there  was  only  24  feet  at  the  Liverpool  pier,  she  had  to 
anchor  and  her  cargo  was  lightered.  She  was  chartered  to  carry 
French  troops  to  the  Crimea.  She  made  in  1857  the  record  time 
from  New  York  to  the  equator  of  15  days,  18  hours.  Cape  Horn 
in  48  days,  and  San  Francisco  in  92  days,  one  of  the  record  pas- 
sages. It  was  on  this  voyage  that  she  beat  the  "Westward  Ho," 
and  the  New  York  men  who  had  backed  her  in  the  race  won  large 
sums.  As  a  majority  of  her  owners  were  Southerners,  she  was 
seized  as  rebel  property  in  1861  on  her  return  from  Liverpool  to 
New  York,  and  sold  by  auction.  In  1862  she  was  chartered  to 
carry  General  Benjamin  F.  Butler's  troops  to  Ship  Island. 
There  she  collided  with  the  "Idaho,"  and  went  ashore.  Two 
weeks  later  General  Butler  wrote  from  New  Orleans:  "I  am 
now  at  the  Passes  and  find  the  'Great  Republic'  ashore  there,  I 
am  tired  of  waiting  for  her,  send  the  'Ocean  Pearl.'" 

She  was  pulled  off,  resumed  the  California  trade,  making  a 
voyage  in  111  days  in  1865,  and  was  finally  sold  for  $25,000  to 
the  Merchants  Trading  Company  of  Liverpool.  She  went  under 
the  English  flag,  and  was  renamed  the  "Denmark."  In  1868 
she  sailed  from  St.  John  to  Liverpool  in  14  days,  one  of  the  fast- 
est voyages  ever  made  by  sail.  While  on  a  voyage  from  Rio 
in  1872,  she  sprang  a  leak  and  was  abandoned  at  sea. 

The  "Reporter"  was  built  in  1853  by  Paul  Curtis  at  East  Bos- 
ton under  supervision  of  her  future  master  and  part  owner,  Cap- 
tain Octavius  Howe.  Her  first  voyage  was  to  New  Orleans,  and 
when,  pushed  by  four  tugs  across  the  bar  at  the  South-west  Pass, 
she  pulled  up  to  the  levee,  October  11,  1853,  she  was  the  largest 
and  fastest-sailing  vessel  that  had  ever  visited  that  port.  A  month 
later  she  sailed  for  Liverpool,  crammed  with  cotton, — cotton  on 
her  deck  and  50  bales  in  the  captain's  cabin, — and  on  his  arrival 
Captain  Howe  wrote  the  owners,  "We  have  given  the  whole 
fleet  from  the  North,  South,  and  West  a  terrible  licking."     It  was 


i| 

j^^Kn^L 

I 

m^Bl^Bk^           / 

1 

Ik 

r 

A 

, 

J 

■'    ^ 

-  Jl 

K  ' 

ShM^hA    -     m 

s 

J 

1 

B 

h 

^^V^ 

IL 

i--M 

^^^^^Hl^^^^F  ^ 

^i^^.l0m 

*s  -^^          { 

H 

wK'~ 

'  1  r 

■ 

'' 

H 

HP'*  ■ 

m 

Hk  '^K 

34 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 


found,  however,  that  speed  did  not  compensate  for  lack  of  cargo 
capacity,  and  in  1856  she  was  sold  to  W.  F.  Weld  &  Co.  for 
$76,000.  This  firm  employed  her  in  the  business  to  which  she 
was  adapted,  and  the  same  year  she  sailed  for  California.  She 
rounded  the  Horn  in  48  days,  and  reached  San  Francisco  in  107 
days,  beating  the  "Ocean  Express,"  the  "Toipedo,"  and  every 
other  vessel  sailing  about  the  same  time.  In  1861  the  "Andrew 
Jackson"   made  the   best    passage    of  the  year,   102  days  from 


Leiifftli.  190' 


STARLIGHT 


Tonnage,  1150 


New  York  to  San  Francisco,  and  the  "Reporter,"  the  second 
best,  103  days,  beating  the  fast  clippers  "Golden  Eagle,"  "Ro- 
mance of  the  Seas,"  "Sierra  Nevada,"  and  "Great  Republic." 
On  June  3,  1862,  the  "Reporter,"  Captain  William  H.  White, 
left  New  York,  for  San  Francisco,  and  off  Cape  Horn  shipped  a 
tremendous  sea,  which  smashed  all  the  boats  and  started  a  leak. 
Rafts  were  constructed  and  the  vessel  abandoned,  but,  before 
rescue  by  the  English  bark  "Enchantress"  came,  all  on  the  rafts 
but  four  had  died  of  cold  and  hunger. 


36 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 


The  "Starlight,"  owned  by  Baker  &  Morrill,  was  built  by  E. 
&  H.  O.  Briggs  at  South  Boston  in  1854.  She  finally  went  under 
the  Italian  flag,  and  was  named  "Proto  Longo." 

The  "Titan"  in  1857  carried  6,900  bales  of  cotton  from  New 
Orleans  to  Liverpool,  said  to  have  been  the  largest  cargo  of  cotton 
ever  shipped  up  to  that  time  in  a  sailing  vessel.  She  was  built 
in  1855  by  Roosevelt  &  Joyce  at  New  York,  and  was  owned  by 


Lensth,  178' 


NIGHTINGALE 


Tonnage,  1066 


D.  G.  &  W.  Bacon  of  Boston.  She  was  commanded  at  differ- 
ent times  by  Captain  Oliver  Eldridge  and  J.  Henry  Sears,  both 
of  Boston.  Her  first  voyage  was  a  charter  carrying  French 
troops  to  the  Crimea.  The  London  Times  said  of  her  in  1857, 
"The  'Titan,'  the  largest  and  finest  clipper  in  the  world,  has  just 
returned  from  the  Crimea,  and  will  run  in  the  Wliite  Star  Line  to 
Australia."  Subsequently  she  sailed  to  Melbourne  and  back. 
In  1857  a  gale  off  Liverpool  forced  her  to  cut  away  the  main 
and  mizzen  masts  in  order  to  wear,  and  thus  she  made  her  way 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA        37 

into  Liverpool  as  shown  in  the  picture.  The  next  year  she  was 
abandoned  at  sea. 

The  "Nightingale,"  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  clij)pers,  had 
a  most  checkered  career,  beginning  as  a  yacht  and  ending  as  a 
slaver.  She  was  built  in  1851  by  Samuel  Hanscomb  at  Ports- 
mouth as  an  exhibit  at  the  World's  Fair  in  London,  to  which  she 
was  to  carry  passengers,  and  was  most  luxuriously  fitted  out  for 
that  purpose.  It  was  intended  to  name  her  after  Jenny  Lind, 
a  figure-head  of  whom  she  carried,  but,  as  another  ship  already 
had  the  name,  she  was  christened  the  "Nightingale."  As  her 
owners  failed  before  she  was  completed,  she  was  sold  at  auction 
in  Boston  to  Sampson  &  Tappan,  who  sent  her,  under  Captain 
Fisk,  to  Australia.  She  went  from  Sydney,  Australia,  to  Shanghai, 
took  on  a  load  of  tea,  and  raced  the  clipper  ship  "Challenger" 
to  Deal,  beating  her  by  three  days.  Subsequently  Sampson  & 
Tappan  offered  to  back  the  "Nightingale"  for  £10,000  against 
any  ship,  British  or  American,  in  a  race  to  China  and  back,  but 
the  challenge  was  never  accepted.  In  1855,  under  Captain  Sam- 
uel Mather,  she  sailed  from  Shanghai  to  London,  beating  several 
clippers,  including  the  "Star  of  the  East."  She  was  soon  after 
transferred  to  the  California  trade,  and  later  sold  to  unknown 
owners.  In  the  fall  of  1860  she  arrived  in  England  from  New 
York,  and  soon  it  became  known  about  the  docks  that  she  had 
become  a  slaver,  although  ostensibly  she  was  loading  for  St. 
Thomas  with  a  cargo  of  guns,  powder,  and  cotton  cloth.  The 
United  States  war -vessel  "Saratoga"  in  the  spring  of  1861 
captured  her  on  the  African  coast,  loaded  with  961  slaves  and 
commanded  nominally  by  a  Spaniard,  but  really  by  Francis 
Bowen.  She  was  sent  to  New  York,  condemned,  and  finally 
sold  for  $13,000.  During  a  part  of  the  Civil  War  she  was  used 
by  the  government  as  a  supply  and  coal  ship.  She  was  sold  for 
$15,000,  and  went  under  Norwegian  colors. 

The  "Herald  of  the  Morning,"  another  famous  clipper,  in 
1855  went  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  in  99  days,  and  in 


38 


SOME  SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 


1867  in  102  days.  While  off  Cape  Horn  in  a  voyage  from  Callao 
to  Hampton  Roads,  she  struck  a  large  whale  and  lost  seven  feet 
of  her  bow,  having  to  throw  part  of  her  cargo  overboard  to 
prevent  her  from  sinking.  She,  too,  eventually  went  under  the 
Norwegian  flag. 

The  "Golden  Fleece,"  another  of  the  W.  F.  Weld  &  Co.  clip- 
pers, was  built  in  East  Boston  by  Paul  Curtis  in  1855,  and  was 


Leng:th,  260' 


RED  JACKET 


Tonnagre,  90.50 


from  the  same  model  as  the  "Reporter."  A  knight  in  armor  was 
carried  as  a  figure-head.  While  entering  the  Golden  Gate  in  1857, 
she  struck  "Four  Fathom  Bar"  off  Point  Bonita,  but  managed 
to  reach  her  wharf  with  twelve  feet  of  water  in  her  hold.  Finally, 
in  1878,  she  was  caught  in  a  storm  off  Montevideo  while  on  a 
voyage  from  San  Francisco  to  Boston.  Badly  damaged,  she  put 
into  port,  and  was  condemned  and  sold. 

The  "Red  Jacket"  was  one  of  the  most  famous  of  the  Austra- 
lian packets  of  the  White  Star  Line.     She  was  built  in  1853  by 


40        SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 

George  Thomas  at  Rockland,  Me.,  for  Secomb  &  Taylor  of  Bos- 
ton, and  was  designed  by  Samuel  H.  Pook.  She  ran  to  Liverpool 
in  January,  1854,  from  Sandy  Hook  to  Rock  Light  in  13  days  and 
1  hour;  actual  time  to  Liverpool,  14  days  and  8  hours.  On  her 
arrival  she  was  bought  by  Pilkington  &  Watson,  agents  of  the 
White  Star  Line,  for  $150,000,  and  went  into  the  Australian 
trade.  She  sailed  from  Liverpool  to  Melbourne,  Australia,  on 
her  first  voyage  in  69  days,  11  hours.  During  her  voyage  of 
13,880  miles  she  averaged  200  miles  a  day.  She  rivalled  the 
"Lightning"  as  the  fastest  ship  in  the  English  marine,  and 
ended  her  days  in  the  lumber  trade  between  Canada  and 
England. 

The  "James  Baines"  was  one  of  four  clipper  ships  built  in  1854 
by  Donald  McKay  for  James  Baines  &  Co.  of  Liverpool,  who  ran 
the  Black  Ball  Line  of  packets  to  Australia.  Her  figure-head  was 
a  bust  of  her  owner,  James  Baines,  and  on  her  stern  was  a  globe 
supported  by  the  arms  of  England  and  America.  Commanded 
by  Captain  Charles  McDonnell,  she  made  the  run  from  Boston 
Light  to  Rock  Island  Light,  in  the  record  time  of  12  days  and  6 
hours.  In  the  winter  of  1854  and  1855  she  ran  from  Liverpool 
to  Melbourne  in  63  days,  and  home  in  69,  thus  circumnavigat- 
ing the  globe  in  the  record  time  of  132  days,  her  best  day's  run 
being  420  statute  miles.  On  June  17,  1856,  she  made  21  knots 
with  main  skysail  set,  the  highest  rate  of  speed  ever  made  by  a 
sailing  vessel.  During  the  Sepoy  mutiny  the  "James  Baines" 
was  one  of  the  clipper  ships  to  carry  troops  from  England  to 
India.  She  was  finally  burned  at  Liverpool,  and  her  hulk  was 
made  a  landing  stage  for  Atlantic  steamship  passengers. 

The  "Dreadnought"  was  built  at  Newburyport  in  1853  by 
Currier  &  Townsend  for  David  Ogden  &  Co.  of  New  York,  and, 
captained  by  Samuel  Samuels,  made  many  very  swift  voyages  to 
Liverpool  from  New  York  in  David  Ogden' s  Red  Cross  Line.  In 
January,  1856,  she  made  the  phenomenal  passage  from  Sandy 
Hook  to  Queenstown  in  9  days  and  17  hours.     On  one  voyage 


42        SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 

the  crew  mutinied,  and  Captain  Samuels's  prompt  courage  alone 
saved  the  ship  from  seizure.  In  1869  she  was  wrecked  on  the 
crags  of  Cape  Horn,  and  Captain  P.  N.  Mayhew  and  her  crew 
were  picked  up  after  being  14  days  in  open  boats. 

The  clipper  "Huguenot,"  under  command  of  Sylvanus  Nicker- 
son,  foundered  in  the  Indian  Ocean  while  on  her  way  from  Iliolo 
to  Boston  with  a  load  of  sugar,  going  down  in  three  hours.     Her 


■ns^msmsc::            '^''^^^^^^m 

% 

HHK^.*^  ^^^^^  ^^^^Hibp 

■  \ 
1 

^Ibs^^'" 

^^ 

1 

Length,  200' 


DREADNOUGHT 


Tonnage,  1413 


captain  and  crew  were  8  days  in  open  boats  before  they  landed 
on  an  island  in  the  Ormbay  Straits.  They  were  made  prisoners 
by  a  Malay  tribe,  were  released,  made  their  way  to  another 
island,  and  were  finally  rescued  by  a  Dutch  man-of-war. 

The  "Formosa"  was  built  by  John  Taylor,  at  East  Boston, 
in  1868  for  Silsbee,  Pickman  &  Allen  of  Salem.  Under  Cap- 
tain Charles  H.  Allen,  Jr.,  in  1871  she  sailed  from  New  York 
to  Melbourne  in  89  days,  and  again  in  1876  made  the  passage 
from  Boston  to  Melbourne  in  79  days.  She  finally  went  ashore 
on  the  Western  Tweeling  Island  at  the  entrance  of  Atlas  Straits, 


SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA        43 


January  3,  1880.  After  experiencing  heavy  squalls,  the  ship  be- 
came unmanageable  and  would  not  steer,  and  the  strong  current 
carried  her  on  shore.  She  pounded  on  the  rocks,  and  at  last, 
on  January  6,  swung  off  and  sank  in  deep  water,  leaving  nothing 
visible  but  her  topmasts.  The  captain  and  crew  landed  on 
the  island,  but,  finding  the  tide  rising  so  high  that  it  would 
submerge    the    island,   the    spars    and   rigging  were  taken  from 


Length,  215'  6" 


GREAT   ADMIRAL 


Tonnage,  1576 


the  ship  and  a  platform  was  erected  in  the  cocoanut-trees,  on 
which  the  crew  and  the  stores  were  placed  as  the  surf  rolled 
in  and  covered  the  island.  The  captain  and  crew  were  finally 
rescued. 

The  "Great  Admiral,"  one  of  the  last  of  the  clipper  ships, 
belonged  to  W.  F.  Weld  &  Co.,  and  was  built  in  1869;  and 
from  1869  to  1897,  when  she  was  sold  to  Captain  E.  Sterling  for 
$12,500,  she  was  a  steady  money-maker  and  made  many  voyages 
around  the  world. 


44        SOME   SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA 

One  of  the  most  thrilling  rescues  of  the  clipper  ship  era  was 
that  of  the  300  passengers  and  crew  of  the  steamship  "  Central 
America,"  in  1857,  by  the  brig  "Marine,"  owned  by  the  firm 
of  Elisha  Atkins,  the  head  of  which  was  the  father  of  Edwin  F. 
Atkins,  who  is  now  head  of  the  firm  of  E.  Atkins  &  Co.  The 
"Central  America"  was  burned  at  sea  while  on  her  way  from 
Aspinwall  to  New  York,  and  her  passengers  and  crew  were  found 


"DANIEL   WEBSTER"   RESCUING   THE   PASSENGERS   OF   THE 
SHIP   "UNICORN" 


adrift  on  the  ocean  by  the  brig  "Marine,"  under  Captain  Burt. 
Owing  to  the  high  sea  which  was  running,  the  rescue  was  accom- 
plished with  great  risks,  which  were  fearlessly  taken  by  the 
captain  and  crew  of  the  brig.  Those  rescued  were  safely  landed 
in  New  York.  The  other  passengers  were  picked  up  by  other 
vessels. 

An  interesting  experience  in  the  career  of  Mr.  Atkins  was  an 
experimental  cold  storage  cargo,  one  of  the  first  probably  sent 
to  any  foreign  market.     It  consisted  of  poultry,  fish,  and  oysters 


SOME  SHIPS  OF  THE   CLIPPER  SHIP  ERA        45 

consigned  to  Demarara,  which  was  so  ingeniously  packed  in 
blocks  of  ice  that  an  alternate  cavity  was  left  for  the  turkeys 
between  blocks  of  ice.  In  other  layers  thousands  of  pounds  of 
oysters  and  fish  were  laid  away,  and  each  layer  was  covered  with 
other  blocks,  so  that  tier  upon  tier  of  the  ice  was  thus  built  up. 
The  provisions  were  landed  at  their  destination  frozen  solid. 
It  was,  however,  but  a  slight  task  to  break  out  the  cargo.  As  a 
financial  proposition,  the  experiment  did  not  pay. 

Another  interesting  rescue  was  that  of  the  passengers  from 
the  immigrant  ship  "Unicorn"  by  the  ship  "Daniel  Webster," 
under  Captain  W.  H.  Howard,  on  November  9,  1851.  This 
has  been  interestingly  depicted  in  an  oil  painting  owned  by 
Arthur  Williams,  Jr.,  which  is  shown  here. 

Any  account  of  clipper  ships,  however  meagre,  would  be  in- 
complete without  something  about  Donald  McKay,  the  master 
builder,  from  whose  yard  so  many  of  the  fastest  clippers  came. 
He  was  a  Nova  Scotian  of  long  Scottish  descent,  and  when  about 
sixteen  went  to  New  York,  where  he  learned  his  trade  with  Isaac 
Webb  and  other  well-known  ship-builders.  He  returned  to  the 
East,  and  helped  build  the  "Delia  Walker"  for  Dennis  Condry. 
He  so  impressed  Condry  with  his  skill  and  energy  that,  when 
Enoch  Train,  a  wealthy  Boston  merchant  engaged  in  the  South 
American  trade,  decided  to  put  on  a  line  of  packets  between 
Liverpool  and  Boston,  Condry  dissuaded  him  from  having  the 
ships  built  in  New  York  and  advised  him  to  see  McKay.  This 
Train  did,  and  was  so  pleased  with  him  that  he  gave  McKay, 
who  had  gone  into  the  business  for  himself,  the  contract  to  build 
the  "Joshua  Bates,"  the  first  ship  of  Train's  famous  Liverpool 
line.  Train  persuaded  McKay  to  come  to  Boston  and  establish 
a  yard  in  East  Boston,  and  from  this  yard  came  many  of  the 
swiftest  clipper  ships.  McKay's  prosperity  continued  until  the 
loss  by  fire  of  the  "Great  Republic,"  from  which  he  never  fully 
recovered. 


The  State  Street  Trust  Company  takes 
pleasure  in  presenting  to  you  this  monograph 
entitled  Some  Ships  of  the  Clipper  Ship  Era, 

It  is  the  seventh  in  the  series  of  historical 
brochures  that  the  company  has  issued  dur- 
ing the  past  six  years,  and  the  company  hopes 
that  you  will  find  it  worthy  of  preservation 
in  your  library. 

The  State  Street  Trust  Company  desires 
also  to  call  your  attention  to  the  banking 
facilities  which  it  offers  to  individuals,  firms, 
and  corporations  that  either  contemplate  a 
change  in  banking  relations  or  are  seeking 
a  bank  for  the  first  time. 

The  offices  are  equipped  with  the  most 
up-to-date  Safe  Deposit  Vaults,  which  have 
every  accommodation  required  for  such  a 
department. 

The  State  Street  Trust  Company  extends 
to  you  an  invitation  to  visit  its  offices  if  you 
have  not  already  done  so. 


MAIN    OFFICE 

jj  State  Street 


BACK   BAT  BRANCH 
I  JO  Massachusetts  Avenue 

{Corner  Boylston  Street) 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ' 


Syracuse,  N.   Y. 
Stockton,  Colif. 


L  007  802  733  1 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACIUTY 


AA    001  008  929    0 


.^ 


